Abstract
The goal of this work was the complete fractionation and purification of Bitis arietans crude venon, which has not been achieved by earlier techniques. By using preparative native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE), the crude venom was fractionated into six fractions. The separated venom fractions were eluted from gel pieces by electroelution. All fractions except fraction 1 appeared as a single band on analytical native PAGE. Crude venom (3 mg kg)by intraperitoneal injection was lethal to mice but none of the fractions (2 mg kg(-1)) were lethal. Crude venom and fraction 6 showed phospholipase activity. Crude venom (400 mu g) and fractions 1,2,4,5 and 6 (50 mu g) had an anti-coagulant effect on normal citrated human plasma whereas fraction 3 did not affect the normal clotting time. Crude venom and fractions 2, 3 and 4 were caseinolytic. The method used in this study is a reliable, easy and rapid method for complete fractionation and purification of Bitis arietans crude venom.